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Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting of
The South-Central Renaissance Conference, 6 March 2008

  1. The 2007 minutes were read and accepted.
  2. Future meetings: 2009 Hot Springs (Raymond Frontain); 2010 Corpus Christi (Catherine Cox); 2011 Tucson; 2001 possibly New Orleans. The idea of New Orleans was well received, but the possibility of setting up a meeting in the absence of representation from the New Orleans schools creates a problem.
  3. David Hart has retired as archivist and Jack Blevins will take his place. McNeese Library is the new site.
  4. Liana Cheney will continue as liaison with RSA.
  5. The idea of limiting the number of graduate papers elicited strong discussion. Presentation of graduate papers helps toward the development of young faculty and new members. On the other hand, will senior faculty attend sessions in which graduate papers are presented? The questions were not resolved.
  6. Honoraria will in the future be limited to $1000-1250. Graduate aid will go to 2 students.
  7. A $10 increase in registration fee will be set against the cost of technology.
  8. The Treasurer’s report was accepted with the notes that Cliff Ronan is the necessary agent and the Secretary-Treasurer will attend to any IRS issues.
  9. The Program Committee report is follows these minutes.
  10. The sudden snow kept Frances Malpezzi from attending. Frances had let Maurice Hunt know the Gale/Proquest seemed the best on-line site for EIRC and proposed that we accept their offer. Any money generated from ProQuest is to be turned back to EIRC. Support was unanimous. Presently, EIRC is breaking even. Jack Blevins will talk over with Frances the idea of alternate printing vis-à-vis the appearance of the journal. The point is simply to see what is available and what will make our thoroughly outstanding journal even better. The Executive Committee is strong in its praise of Frances.
  11. The submissions to Discoveries are on the increase, and the subject matter of essays submitted is gradually increasing. Dave Reinheimer, the editor, is pleased. Discoveries remains free.
  12. The Nominations report included an explanation of our cursus: Program Chair to Vice-President to retired President as Board Member, ex officio. The hope of the committee is that the board will come to include representation from disciplines other than English. Cliff Ronan was nominated for Life Membership. The slate for 2009 concludes these minutes.
  13. The site for 2009 is Hot Springs. The expected hotel rate is $99/night. We will have 6meeting rooms. Nabil Matar will be the keynote speaker. The QE Society is expected, but the Martz and Hunter Lecturers are yet unnamed. We will not have complimentary rooms.
  14. Arlen Nydam reported that the website is no longer on the UT site. Arlen will continue as webmaster. His request for a year to set up and run SCRC’s own site was approved. The Webmaster was exempted from fees and dues.
  15. Les Brothers moved to ask members if they would prefer to be contacted via mail or email. David Reinheimer seconded the motion which then passed.
  16. The President and Program Chair will work with the Secretary on matters of PR.
  17. The matter of the graduate stipend drew considerable discussion. Presently, one stipend is awarded to an Art History presenter. Dave Reinheimer’s point is that such a policy limits the opportunities for those in other disciplines. On the other hand, a donor certainly has the opportunity to stipulate the use of a gift. The motion to change the policy of stipends was denied, and the current way of administering those grants will continue. However, Board Members were charged with considering what changes might be beneficial and bringing those thoughts to next year’s meeting.
  18. Creation of a $40 one-day pass for those not on the program was proposed. The purpose of the pass is to promote local attendance. The motion was passed. The question of what the revenue will be used for was not resolved or discussed with any particularity.
  19. The possibility of a meeting conflict in 2010 with the Donne Society came up. That group will draw some of our staunchest members who have major obligations to that meeting. The question of the gracious action for the SCRC—send a represented to that meeting and wish them well—was not resolved or even moved.

Respectfully Submitted,
Martha Oberle (on behalf of the absent Secretary-Treasurer Patricia García)



2008 Program Report
Submitted by Jill Carrington, Program Chair

  • There were 103 presentations in 34 panels.
  • 5 speakers withdrew their papers and one paper was rejected.
  • 75% of the papers dealt with English literature; 14% with art history; Italian literature, French history and Italian music round out the top five disciplines.
  • Our affiliates sponsored the numerous panels: SRAH (6); QEIS (6); Marvell Society (2).
  • SCRC members organized 2 special English literature panels.